60 medical professionals were indicted on Wednesday for issuing more than 350,000 illegal pain pill prescriptions, the Washington Post reports.
Details: The investigation used undercover informants and agents to infiltrate medical practices — including 31 doctors, 8 nurse practitioners, 7 pharmacists and 7 other medical professionals — in Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Alabama and West Virginia. Those indicted reportedly exploited their licenses to sell opioids in exchange for money and sexual favors.
The first major study on the effectiveness of a workplace wellness program found that it had little impact on health outcomes, spending or utilization, according to a new Harvard study published in JAMA.
Details: It also didn't improve worker attendance or job performance over the 18 months of the study. It did, however, encourage employees to exercise more and improve their weight management.
Red states are getting creative as they look for new ways to limit the growth of Medicaid. But in the process those states are taking legal, political and practical risks that could ultimately leave them paying far more, to cover far fewer people.
Why it matters: Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program cover more than 72 million Americans, thanks in part to the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion. Rolling back the program is a high priority for the Trump administration, and it needs states' help to get there.
In hopes of curbing the measles outbreak — which has infected 186 people in Rockland County, New York, — local officials have issued strict guidelines prohibiting anybody with measles from being in a public space for up to 21 days.
“It is unacceptable to sit back and do nothing as more of our residents fall ill to this deadly disease and court decisions aside, we will never do that. In 2017, measles killed 110,000 people worldwide, mostly children under the age of 5. And while we have thankfully not seen a death here in Rockland, we have seen multiple hospitalizations, including an infant and even a premature birth caused by measles.”
UnitedHealth Group CEO Dave Wichmann said today on an earnings call that Democrats' "Medicare for All" proposals would result in the "wholesale disruption of American health care" and "would surely jeopardize the relationship people have with their doctors."
Between the lines: Wichmann felt the need to address Medicare for All because the threat of moving to a single-payer system has crushed industry stock prices recently. But his comments also overshadowed the fact that UnitedHealth, the largest health insurance and services conglomerate in the country, beat Wall Street's expectations with $3.5 billion of profit in the first quarter.
The Department of Homeland Security has considered designating fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction in certain situations, Task & Purpose scooped yesterday.
What they're saying: "Fentanyl's high toxicity and increasing availability are attractive to threat actors seeking nonconventional materials for a chemical weapons attack," James McDonnell, a senior DHS official, wrote in a memo obtained by Task & Purpose.
Millions of Americans lose their health insurance plans every month, by leaving the job through which they got that coverage.
Why it matters: Critics and skeptics of "Medicare for All" worry about eliminating people's existing coverage because most people are relatively satisfied with their employer-based plans. But millions of workers and their families already switch or lose their insurance from their jobs.
